The Way of Abundance
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness. — 2 Corinthians 12:9
When my dad called this morning, he said his farming friend, Alan Bertrand, was “just trying to figure out whether to spend the years he’s got left restoring another one of those antique tractors he has out in the shop, or if he should spend the time he’s got left trying to track down his daughter he hasn’t seen or heard from in ten years.”
I could see Dad in my mind in his suspender overalls. “And so, Alan decided?”
“The tractor. He already knew how to fix the tractor. Little risk. But the daughter? He doesn’t even know where she is. That was all risk.”
But, Dad, I wanted to say, love is a risk…. that’s never a risk.
“Look,” Dad continued. “Do we give up what makes us really happy, whatever we are good at, a lifetime of happiness to risk our lives on a relationship that might never make us happy? There are no guarantees with people.”
And before I could think, the words left my mouth.
Jesus said, ‘Whoever loses their life for Me will find it.’ — Matthew 16:25
Jesus risked Himself on me. How can I not risk my life on you? You may not love me back. You may humble me, humiliate me, reject me, shatter my heart, and drive the shards into my soul — but this is not the part that matters. What matters is that in the act of loving we become more like the givenness of Love Himself. What matters most is not if our love makes other people change, but that in loving, we change.What matters is that in the sacrificing to love someone, we become more like Someone. Regardless of anything or anyone else changing, the success of loving is in how we change because we kept on loving.
Who knew that sometimes if you don’t risk anything — you’re actually risking everything?
Love is always worth the risk because the reward of loving is in the joy of loving itself. Love is a risk that’s never a risk. Loving itself is the greatest outcome because loving makes one more beautiful, more like brokenhearted Beauty Himself.
No matter what the outcome looks like, if your love has poured out, your life will be success-full.
Relationships are the realest reality — and the realest risk… and the worthiest risk. Because in sacrificing ourselves, we are guaranteed to discover the depths of our best and realest selves.
Whatever you love is what you really are. Tractor — or daughter? The saddest thing of all may be when we give away our lives to insignificant things. Why love the wrong things in the wrong ways? The only way to the abundant life is to love the right things in the right ways.
Could I turn to my people, any and all people, and live it? I am what I love and I will love you like Jesus, because of Jesus, through the strength of Jesus. I will love when I’m not loved back. I will love when I’m hurt and disappointed and betrayed and inconvenienced and rejected. I simply will love — no expectations, no conditions, no demands.
Nothing will stop me from loving — not time, distance, disappointment, or death. Nothing will stop me from the risk of vulnerably loving because love like this is not a risk.
Love defies logic and keeps on loving when it makes no sense because that is what love does.
And I will fall in love and fail at love and fall in my love, but I will never stop the practicing, practicing, practicing, the givenness and the receiving. For what is faith, what is love, if it is not practiced?
Giving away the heart… heals the heart.
For Reflection
- What are the priorities of your broken heart? As you prioritize what you love the most, how are these priorities a reflection of who you really are?
- How is your life proving that relationships are the realest reality… and the realest risk… and the worthiest risk?
Excerpted from The Way of Abundance by Ann Voskamp.
When my dad called this morning, he said his farming friend, Alan Bertrand, was “just trying to figure out whether to spend the years he’s got left restoring another one of those antique tractors he has out in the shop, or if he should spend the time he’s got left trying to track down his daughter he hasn’t seen or heard from in ten years.”
I could see Dad in my mind in his suspender overalls. “And so, Alan decided?”
“The tractor. He already knew how to fix the tractor. Little risk. But the daughter? He doesn’t even know where she is. That was all risk.”
But, Dad, I wanted to say, love is a risk…. that’s never a risk.
“Look,” Dad continued. “Do we give up what makes us really happy, whatever we are good at, a lifetime of happiness to risk our lives on a relationship that might never make us happy? There are no guarantees with people.”
And before I could think, the words left my mouth.
Jesus said, ‘Whoever loses their life for Me will find it.’ — Matthew 16:25
Jesus risked Himself on me. How can I not risk my life on you? You may not love me back. You may humble me, humiliate me, reject me, shatter my heart, and drive the shards into my soul — but this is not the part that matters. What matters is that in the act of loving we become more like the givenness of Love Himself. What matters most is not if our love makes other people change, but that in loving, we change.What matters is that in the sacrificing to love someone, we become more like Someone. Regardless of anything or anyone else changing, the success of loving is in how we change because we kept on loving.
Who knew that sometimes if you don’t risk anything — you’re actually risking everything?
Love is always worth the risk because the reward of loving is in the joy of loving itself. Love is a risk that’s never a risk. Loving itself is the greatest outcome because loving makes one more beautiful, more like brokenhearted Beauty Himself.
No matter what the outcome looks like, if your love has poured out, your life will be success-full.
Relationships are the realest reality — and the realest risk… and the worthiest risk. Because in sacrificing ourselves, we are guaranteed to discover the depths of our best and realest selves.
Whatever you love is what you really are. Tractor — or daughter? The saddest thing of all may be when we give away our lives to insignificant things. Why love the wrong things in the wrong ways? The only way to the abundant life is to love the right things in the right ways.
Could I turn to my people, any and all people, and live it? I am what I love and I will love you like Jesus, because of Jesus, through the strength of Jesus. I will love when I’m not loved back. I will love when I’m hurt and disappointed and betrayed and inconvenienced and rejected. I simply will love — no expectations, no conditions, no demands.
Nothing will stop me from loving — not time, distance, disappointment, or death. Nothing will stop me from the risk of vulnerably loving because love like this is not a risk.
Love defies logic and keeps on loving when it makes no sense because that is what love does.
And I will fall in love and fail at love and fall in my love, but I will never stop the practicing, practicing, practicing, the givenness and the receiving. For what is faith, what is love, if it is not practiced?
Giving away the heart… heals the heart.
For Reflection
- What are the priorities of your broken heart? As you prioritize what you love the most, how are these priorities a reflection of who you really are?
- How is your life proving that relationships are the realest reality… and the realest risk… and the worthiest risk?
Excerpted from The Way of Abundance by Ann Voskamp.
You find yourself at a crossroads every day -- and what you need to know is the way to abundance. This gentle but exquisitely profound devotional does nothing less than take you on an intimate journey of the soul.
 *releases 3/13/18
Pre-order the Way of Abundance and get three free calendars emailed to you: 1. A 40-Day perpetual Lenten calendar 2. A keep company with Christ church calendar 3. A 12-month intentional acts of givenness calendar Just download and print at home or at your local print shop and feel free to give the free calendar as birthday, Lenten encouragement, Easter or just-because gifts! Simply pre-order the book and then enter your receipt info on Ann's website here. | |
About the Devotional
How do you find the way that lets you become what you hope to be? How do you know the way forward that lets you heal, that lets you flourish, the way that takes your brokenness — and makes wholeness? How can you afford to take any other way? The Way of Abundance is a gorgeous movement in sixty steps from heart-weary brokenness to Christ-focused abundance. Drawing from her exquisite, soul-searching online journal and the transformational insights of The Broken Way, Ann Voskamp points the way to the life that you were always meant for. Rich with vulnerable stories from Ann’s life, this life-changing devotional makes space for you to breathe, sit with Scripture, and reflect in ways that lets you not only freshly see your own soul and your way to the abundant life. The devotional is broken up into 6 parts: Part One: How Can the Brokenhearted Keep Going? Part Two: How Do We Live Like the Brokenhearted, Cruciform Christ? Part Three: How Do You Let Your Broken Heart Receive? Part Four: How Can the Brokenhearted Find Real Communion? Part Five: How Can the Brokenhearted Release Control? Part Six: How Do the Brokenhearted Get to Love? At the end of each chapter, you'll find reflection questions to help you apply the readings to your life. The Way of Abundance is the way forward every heart needs.
A note from Ann...
“These pages are about the wildly abundant life found in wildly unexpected places. These pages are about taking the dare to journey into a deeply meaningful life. The abundant life isn’t found in what’s touted as the good life bought on credit; it’s found in the upside-down life, in broken places, with broken people, being most near the broken heart of Christ." |
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